Advice needed on flea allergies

Jasmine is 8yo neutered female who has rescued some 8 years ago. she has developed severe itching and hair thinning to the point of baldness. she has scabs most prevalant around her neck and chin but also noted at the base of her tail. she has become very nervous and is so incessant at scratching, her eating and sleeping habits are affected.she has had noticable weight loss. i thought the scabs may be from her nails so i trimmed them without any decrease in their frequency or condition. i have been actively doing flea treatments in both the house and yard, and have her bathed weekly and dipped.after a 2 week break from the poisons i then applied a once a month spot treatment, these have been over the counter meds since i cant afford the vet visit and the meds at one time. she had a couple of restful days and then returned to the non stop scratching. she now will not allow me to catch her during the day as she thinks she will get yet another bath. none of the other cats or the dog seem to have any significant flea infestations. when bathed i see few fleas, dead or alive. i believe she allergic to fleas based on the info i have read on line. i do not at this time have the means for vet. care and want to know if benedryl may give her relief. any ideas to help this unemployed animal advocate? these animals are my family and are very important to us.

Welcome to TCS! Do you have a regular vet? The first thing I would do is stop the dipping and applying OTC meds, which can be dangerous and cause more itching, and take the money you have been spending for all of that and go to your vet and pick up a tube of Advantage or Frontline for about 10 or 12 dollars, maybe less.

My Lil Bit has a flea allergy and withing 6 hours of applying either one of those, the itching and nervousness almost stops. As for the benadryl....don't give her any until you can get a correct dosage from the vet!

You could call your Vet and ask about the Benedryl, My Cinnie is highly allergic to flea bites. One bite and she scratches and gets hot spots all over her and is just plain miserable. She's going through this right now. I try to put Frontline on her but she never lets me, she hides on me before I even get the Frontline out. I would swear she has ESP . The only thing I can do is put neosporin on her hot stops rub it in so theres no excess for her to lick and every day I sit and fine tooth comb her with a pale of sudsy water to get what fleas I can off of her. Good luck.

thanks for responding. no, i do not have a regular vet, the one that i had used for my old boy skipper before his passing was, i found, unwilling to even work with me when it was time for him to go to the Bridge. i was fortunate to find a local society which gave the payment to put him to rest. i have used the products you mentioned in the past and they only seem to give her releif for 1-2 days, then the itching becomes more and more prominent. i do not think it wise to redose too closley. i do not hve knowledge of their potential harm if overused and again the cost issue. my question about the benadryl is questioning its usefullness in flea allergy use. it seems to get mixed reviews in these threads. is there something that the most responsive for relief? ie: cortisone vs benadryl. thanks again for taking the time to respond, luv jasmine

of course she has ESP, she is a cat